LunaTicked In Knockturn Alley
by oddment1
Summary: This is about a character I made up named Merlin Black. The story is during Harry's sixth year but is AU and a completely different story from the Half Blood Prince
1. Chapter 1

Luna-Ticked In Knockturn Alley

A Shattered Moon

Merlin Black was an average looking wizard who was in Gryffindor House of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry. He was so average that not too many wizards at Hogwarts knew him. This was perfectly all right with Merlin because the last thing he ever wanted was to have people keep looking at his forehead. In spite of all this, a person might mistake Merlin for Harry Potter if they weren't too close to him. This was due to the fact that they both had the same hair color, size, and style of glasses. When looked at more closely; however, a few differences were noticeable. Merlin's eyes were blue instead of green. Merlin's short black hair was usually a bit tidier than Harry's. Merlin was thankful that he did not have a scar on his forehead since he preferred not to stand out. Merlin certainly spent more time with his best friend Neville Longbottom. Merlin seemed to have a stranger interest in girls than Harry. There was one final difference between Merlin and Harry. Tonight, Merlin was the one who was crying.

Merlin Black sat in an easy chair in the Gryffindor common room crying. Even though the fire was still burning in front of him, it did nothing to comfort him as it usually did. Since it was one o'clock in the morning, most of the other students were in bed sleeping. Merlin wondered if he would ever sleep again. Sitting next to Merlin was Neville Longbottom. Sitting around other tables were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. None of Merlin's friends really knew how help him so they decided to sit quietly until Merlin finished crying. Finally, Neville put his hand on Merlin's shoulder and tried to convince his best friend that everything was going to be all right to no avail. All Merlin could do was cry and continue to look at the note in his hand that Professor McGonagall had given him in her office just an hour earlier.

_Merlin Black, We have Luna Lovegood. If you interfere with the affairs of Slytherin House again, we will kill her._

Merlin finally stopped crying. A new feeling assaulted Merlin, a feeling of anger. Merlin jumped out his chair, ripped up the note, and hurled it into the fire. Merlin Black, who was usually a calm person, had never been this angry in his live. Merlin wanted to hit something. Merlin decided that he wanted to flip the table on which Gryffindor students usually did their homework over.

When Merlin put his hands on the table, Hermione deduced what he was about to do. "Merlin, calm down! Destroying the common room won't help bring Luna back!" she screamed.

Harry reminisced back to a time last year when he had destroyed most of Dumbledore's office after losing his godfather Sirius Black.

After Merlin calmed down, Ron asked him exactly what Professor McGonagall had told him. With a dejected sigh, Merlin sat back down on his chair and began his story. "It all started when I was nudged awake by Professor McGonagall and summoned into her office. When I got to her office, she began by asking me if I wanted a cookie. After I politely accepted the cookie, Professor McGonagall asked me if I was friends with Luna Lovegood. I replied that I was . While handing me the note, she told me that she had bad news. She went on to say that we know Miss Lovegood is missing but since there are no witnesses we have no idea who took her."

After Merlin finished his story, Merlin and his friends sat around the fire trying to think of ideas on how to rescue Luna.

"I wish you hadn't ripped up the letter, Merlin. I might have been able to use a spell to find out who wrote it." Hermione explained with exasperation.

Merlin looked at Hermione and exclaimed in a hoarse voice, "I couldn't help it!"

Ron stretched his arms and yawned. Ron then asked if they could go to bed and have a go at it in the morning.

Ron knew he had said the wrong thing as Merlin started walking towards him with a sinister frown on his face. In a finite tone to match Professor McGonagall, Merlin yelled, "You can all go to bed if you want to, but I will not eat or sleep until Luna is save at Hogwarts! I love her! The worst thing about all this is that I have never told her and now it looks like I might never get that chance!"

Neville timidly responded, "Look Merlin, you'll get that chance after you rescue her. How are you going to go about it?"

Merlin couldn't formulate a plan at the moment because the events that had led him to this point were flooding his head.


	2. In The Beginning

Merlin Black felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest. The images in his mind were nothing but a bunch of swirls and blobs. Merlin sat on his chair with his hands over his eyes. With his friends sitting around him in the Gryffindor common room, Merlin struggled for an idea, any at all, that would help him rescue Luna. Merlin thought about how he found out he was a wizard and his trip to Hogwarts. He thought back then that his life seemed scary and overwhelming. He had been wrong.

For the first ten years of his life, Merlin Black lived in a simple cottage in Vermont, USA. Just looking at this brown house surrounded by a white picket fence, a person would never have guessed that a special child lived in it. Merlin rarely felt special. He felt he was an ordinary child living in an ordinary house. Merlin was being raised by his parents Katie and Douglas Black. They had chosen to name their son Merlin because their favorite book was King Arthur And The Knights of The Round Table. After Merlin went to school each day, his parents, who were both highly successful lawyers, went to work in the office that they owned.

Merlin was heading home from Tyler Elementary School on his tenth birthday, he was confronted by a bully. Merlin hated bullies. In fact, Merlin hated anyone who operated on the side of evil. His parents had always raised Merlin to be a righteous individual. Merlin looked at the bully who looked like a grotesques orangutan with red hair. The bully demanded that Merlin hand over his wallet. Merlin was never one to back away from a bully so he refused. The bully hit Merlin's left eye. Wincing in pain, Merlin looked around for help, but no one was around. Merlin then looked at a tree that was directly behind the bully and wished that the tree would reach down and grab the bully. Merlin felt as if a bolt of lightening had hit him when the tree obliged and grabbed the bully. The bully screamed in terror and Merlin ran away. Merlin was determined not to tell anyone what had happened because he was afraid that he would wind up in an insane asylum if he had.

The next day, Merlin went to the local bank with his grandfather Mortimer Black to deposit his birthday money. Merlin always liked going to town because he liked to be around all of the people even though he did not have many friends at school. When Merlin and his grandfather arrived at the bank, he walked up to the counter to deposit his money into his savings account. Before Merlin could talk to the teller, a gun went off behind him. Merlin turned around and saw a rather tall man wearing a ski mask and brandishing a gun. It was quite clear what the man's intention was. He was here to rob the bank. The man menacingly took two steps forward when a car backfired. The noise scared the bank robber and he fired his gun. In the next moment, Merlin's grandfather fell to the floor dead.

Merlin continued to have nightmares about his grandfather's death even though five months had passed. Weird changes continued to increase at an alarming rate after the tragedy. Katie and Douglas Black decided that it would help their son deal with the loss of his grandfather if they moved away. The Black family had an uncle who lived in England so they moved there.

On the day of Merlin's eleventh birthday, Merlin and his family settled into their new house on 4 Knotsbury Lane. That night, Merlin was reading a Sherlock Holmes book when he heard a mysterious scratching sound at his bedroom window. Merlin rushed to the window to see what the sound was and discovered a brown owl looking in the window. The owl somehow looked smarter than most owls. When Merlin opened the window, he discovered the owl had a letter attached to his leg. That letter would change his live forever because it was a letter inviting Merlin to a school called Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Merlin stood behind the barrier between platforms nine and ten at Kings Cross Station. Packed in his trunk were his robe which held his wand of oak, his potion ingredients, his clothes, and his spell books. Sitting on top of Merlin's trunk was a cage which held his gray owl Feathers. Merlin looked around with delight at all of the people traveling to their daily destinations. Kings Cross Station reminded Merlin of the town he used to live in. Merlin looked at his watch and saw that he only had ten minutes to board the train before it left for Hogwarts. Merlin kissed his parents good-bye and checked to make sure no one was watching. Merlin then took a deep breath and ran through the barrier starting his adventure.

Merlin emerged at the other side of the barrier and was quite impressed with the size of the scarlet Hogwarts Express. He had never seen a train that was so large. Even though Merlin was excited about the journey to Hogwarts, he wondered if he would make any friends.

Merlin apprehensively started to board the train when he heard a voice cry out, "Let go of my frog!" Merlin quickly boarded the train.

What he saw made him start to get angry. A blonde haired boy with an arrogant smirk was holding a frog that clearly wasn't his. There were two grotesquely large boys laughing behind him. A short timid looking boy was trying to get the frog back.

"I said give it back!" the timid boy shouted.

"No, I think it will make an excellent lunch for my eagle owl," the blonde hair boy responded.

Merlin walked right up to the blond haired boy, looked him straight in the eye and said in his best sarcastic voice, "Ahem, may I help you?"

"Oh, no! Another Mudblood on the train! That's the second one they've let on the train today!" the blonde haired boy screamed in disgust.

"Actually, the name's Merlin Black," Merlin sneered as he mockingly extended his hand as if expecting a hand shake. "Niiice to meet you. Just who are you?"

"As if it is any business of yours, I'm Draco Malfoy," the blond hair boy sneered back.

Merlin demanded that Draco return the frog and Draco asked what would happen if he didn't. Instead of answering, Merlin glanced at the snack cart and reached out as if he was trying to touch it from across the train. With an angry gesture, Merlin pulled his arm towards him. The snack cart mysteriously rolled across the train and knocked down Draco and the other two boys. Merlin caught the frog before it hit the ground. Merlin handed the frog back to its owner and gained his first friend at Hogwarts, Neville Longbottom.

Draco and his gang retreated to a compartment of their own, Merlin sat with his new friend.

"As you have probably heard, my name is Merlin Black," Merlin cheerfully implored. "What's yours?"

The short boy timidly responded, "My name is Neville Longbottom. Thank you for rescuing my frog Trevor. I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen on my first year."

After Merlin replied that Neville was quite welcome, the compartment door opened and two boys and a girl entered. One was a red haired boy who was wearing a red sweater. The girl had brown bushy hair. The other boy attracted Merlin's attention the most because he looked somewhat like him although there was something quite different about the boy. Merlin figured out what that was when he looked at the boy's forehead. There was a scar in the shape of a lightening bolt on it. The red haired boy looked quite happy about something.

"C-Can I say something to you?" the red haired boy choked.

"Sure, " Merlin replied.

"That was amazing! " the red haired boy screamed.

Merlin asked what was so amazing. The girl with brown bushy hair who introduced herself as Hermione Granger explained that strange things can happen when a wizard or witch gets angry, but few have any control over what happens. Hermione asked if Merlin knew how he had gotten his power. Merlin lied and said that he didn't because the truth was too painful for him to deal with. The red haired boy extended his hand for Merlin to shake and introduced himself as Ron Weasley.

Ron pointed at the boy with the scar on his forehead and blurted out, "Of course, you know who this is."

Merlin looked at Ron with a puzzled look and replied, "Sorry, I don't."

Ron's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head as he screamed, "What! You don't know who Harry Potter is?"

Since the shock of Ron's yell almost knocked Merlin off his seat, Merlin got up and shouted back, "Hey, take it easy! I just got to this country!"

Harry felt as if Merlin was going to be his new best friend because Merlin was the first person he had met that didn't stare at his forehead.


	3. Hermione's Surprise

**Cupid's Luna-cy**

Merlin Black thought happily about his fifth year of Hogwarts. In Merlin's present state of mind, everything that happened before his fifth year was a blur of events that consisted of getting his best friend Neville Longbottom out of scrapes and getting into scrapes with Draco Malfoy. Merlin's thoughts kept drifting back to one time and one person. Merlin thought about when he had met Luna Lovegood in his fifth year of Hogwarts.

_Luna, I miss you. _

_I wonder if you're alright._

_Luna, wherever you are, I will come to your rescue._

_I will make your kidnappers pay for what they've done._

_If they've hurt you, I will rip them apart._

_I'd die for you._

_Luna, I love you._

In the beginning of his fifth year_, _Merlin Black arrived at the Great Hall for the feast. He sat down at his usual place next to his best friend Neville Longbottom. Merlin didn't have many friends besides Neville. Until now, that had been fine with him. That changed when Merlin glanced at a girl with blonde hair sitting at the Ravenclaw table. The girl looked most unusual to Merlin since she was wearing a necklace made of butterbeer caps and radish earrings. However, what was most unusual to Merlin was that he found that he could not look away from her.

"Angel…" Merlin muttered in a daze.

"What was that, Merlin?" Neville wondered as he waved a hand in front of Merlin's face getting no response.

"Merlin!" Neville prodded in frustration. "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't you see where he's looking?" Hermione asked as she pointed.

"Oh, no!" Neville cried out when he saw what the problem was. "Do you mean to tell me that he's crushing on Loony Lovegood?"

"Don't call her that!" Ginny demanded.

After Merlin looked at the girl for a while, Merlin decided that he wanted to find out who she was.

Merlin looked at Neville and asked, "Neville, who is that girl wearing the radish earrings?"

Neville shook his head as if he didn't care and stated, "Oh, that's just Loony Lovegood."

Merlin hated to hear someone calling people names, even if that someone was his best friend Neville.

Merlin gave Neville a dirty look and sneered, "Excuse me, Neville. Maybe you didn't understand my question. What...is...her...NAME?!"

Hermione glared at Neville and added, "Honestly, Neville! You really should try to use more sensitivity. Merlin, her name is Luna Lovegood."

Ron looked at Luna and commented that she was the weirdest girl that he had ever met.

Harry acknowledged Ron by saying, "She always has a dreamy grin on her face that makes her look like she doesn't have a clue what's going on."

Merlin looked at Luna again and shocked all of the boys sitting around him by uttering, "I think she's pretty."

All of a sudden, a drawling voice sneered from behind Merlin, "So ickle Black thinks Loony Lovegood is pretty. Merlin has a crush on Loony. I can just think of the children this filthy Mudblood and Loony will have."

Merlin did not have to look behind him to know who had spoken. He knew Draco Malfoy was standing behind him. Since Merlin's usual tactic of fighting with him didn't seem to work, he decided to try something else. Merlin turned around and using his cheeriest voice possible replied, "Why, hello Draco! How are you?"

Draco looked completely shocked because he had expected Merlin to get angry and retaliate. Draco stuttered in surprise, "Wh-what did you say?"

Merlin replied with a grin, "I said 'how are you?' You don't look so well Draco."

Draco opened and closed his mouth as if he had forgotten what he wanted to say. Draco then snorted, "Never mind how I am!"

Neville's toad Trevor escaped from his hand and landed on the table. This event gave Merlin an idea.

"Draco, you were a ferret last year. What would you like to be this year, a fly?" Merlin remarked.

To Merlin's satisfaction, Draco was as angry as he had ever seen him. He started to make a fist as if he wanted to hit Merlin.

"Oh, do hit me right in front of Dumbledore," Merlin quipped.

Draco angrily walked to the Slytherin table to a loud chorus of cheers from Gryffindor. After Draco left, Neville asked Merlin why he had yelled at him and not Draco. Merlin shrugged his shoulders and replied that arguing with a brick wall serves no purpose at all.

Several months passed. It was time for the first Quidditch match of the year between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Merlin sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall to eat breakfast with his friends. Harry, Ginny, and Ron were discussing Gryffindor's chances of beating Slytherin now that Ron was Gryffindor's new keeper. Harry tried to calm Ron down by complementing a save he had made in practice. Merlin was about to help Harry cheer Ron up when he heard a dreamy voice say hello. Merlin turned around and saw Luna Lovegood wearing an enormous hat that was in the form of a lion's head. When Luna touched her hat with her wand, the hat let out a very loud roar. Merlin could hear people laughing at her. Merlin looked at Luna and realized that she didn't seem to care. This impressed Merlin greatly and he opened his mouth to compliment Luna on her boldness. However, only a gurgling sound came out.

"Are you alright?" Luna said with concern. "I don't believe I know your name."

When Luna looked down at Merlin, she looked into his eyes.

Blushing right red, Merlin stuttered, "M-M-Merlin."

Merlin felt like the walls were closing in around him and that the air was rushing from the room He got up from his chair and rushed to the Gryffindor common room where he spent the rest of the day. Sitting in a chair by the fire, Merlin thought about how stupid Luna must have thought he was. This made Merlin cry because he realized that he was in love.

For several weeks, Merlin tried to gather the courage to talk to Luna. Every time he got close to Luna, he got too nervous to speak. This depressed Merlin so one day he decided to study in the library away from the crowd of Gryffindor students. After he studied for a while, the door opened and Hermione entered the library. Merlin certainly was not surprised to see Hermione because he knew that she was the smartest girl in his year. Hermione sat down in a chair next to Merlin.

"What's wrong, Merlin? You don't look very happy," Hermione implored.

Merlin didn't feel like facing up to Hermione so he continued to look down at his book as he whispered faintly, "I can't talk to her."

Hermione put her hand on Merlin's shoulder to comfort him. "Merlin, I don't understand why you can talk to me, but you can't talk to Luna," Hermione stated.

"But I like Luna!" Merlin blurted out.

"Oh, thank you very much!" smirked Hermione mischievously.

"You know what I mean!" Merlin sneered.

"Merlin, why don't we talk about this outside?" Hermione suggested. "Madam Pince won't like it if we make too much noise in here."

"Okay," Merlin grumbled as he gathered up his books.

Merlin and Hermione walked out of the castle via the entrance hall with Merlin looking mostly at the ground. He was so distracted that he did not notice when they stopped in front of the lake.

"Merlin, why don't you practice on me?" Hermione probed.

"Huh?" Merlin grunted.

"Pretend I'm Luna and tell me how you feel," Hermione explained.

"I think Luna is pretty," Merlin replied.

"What else do you think about her?" Hermione continued.

"I admire her," Merlin proclaimed. "I like how she can be her own person in spite of how people treat her."

"Do you really think that about me, Merlin?" a voice spoke out from behind him.

Merlin spun around and his eyes bulged wide open when he saw Luna emerge from Harry's invisibility cloak


	4. The Talk

"You tricked me!" Merlin called out as he glared at Hermione.

"You just needed a friendly push," Hermione replied. "Why don't you just sit down and talk to Luna?"

Merlin looked at Luna and old feelings of fear started to take over. He took a step towards the castle with wide eyes as if he was about to run away.

"Please don't run away," Luna pleaded.

"Merlin, before you run away again, I really have to ask you something," Hermione demanded.

"What is it?" Merlin asked.

"What house do you belong to?" Hermione spat.

Merlin felt as if Hermione had slapped him across the face. Nothing made him more proud to be in Gryffindor. It made Merlin very happy every time a teacher awarded him points. What's more, nothing gave Merlin's ego a boost more than when someone told him how much he belonged in Gryffindor.

"Why in the world would you ask me that?!" Merlin barked.

"I never thought I would have to," Hermione explained. "I always enjoy watching you stand up to the Slytherins, but lately you have been running all over Hogwarts like a chicken with its head cut off. If you stopped running, you might find out how wonderful love can be. Sit down now!"

Merlin sheepishly obeyed Hermione's command with a bright red face while Luna did the same.

"Did you really mean what you said about me?" Luna asked.

"I never say things I don't mean," Merlin answered.

"That's a very nice way to be," Luna complimented. "You know that I don't have many friends."

"You have one more now," Merlin vowed as he gave Luna a hug.

"You don't know how much that means to me," Luna replied. "Lots of the kids here are mean to me."

"I've noticed," Merlin revealed.

"This morning Draco threw a ink bottle at me," Luna complained.

"Did you tell a teacher?" Merlin gasped.

"I told Snape," Luna revealed.

Merlin gagged as he choked back his initial thoughts. After all, it just wouldn't do to hurt Luna's feelings no matter how stupid Merlin thought Luna had been.

"You told Snape?" Merlin repeated. "I know it may not be as obvious to you since you are not in Gryffindor, but Snape would let his students get away with murder."

"Who should I have told?" Luna wondered.

"I would have told McGonagall," Merlin answered. "She really would have nailed him for something like this."

"I'll do that next time," Luna agreed.

"I know it's hard but you can't let these idiots get you down," Merlin advised. "No one knows more than a Muggleborn that these idiots aren't worth worrying about."

"Okay," Luna replied as she got up to leave. "Well, I have to get to Charms class and I think Harry would like his cloak back."

Luna started to walk back to the castle. She had walked several steps when a thought had come to her. She slowly walked back to Merlin with a determined look in his eyes.

"Merlin, I think you are a nice boy," Luna declared as she kissed him on the cheek.

Merlin blushed bright red and went into a daze as Luna left. He was so much in a daze that he did not notice Hermione approaching. She obviously had seen the whole thing.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked, startling Merlin back to reality.

'I'm not sure," Merlin murmured.

"It looks like something happened," Hermione giggled.

"You were watching?" Merlin wondered.

"Yes, I was," Hermione confessed.

"Thanks for being so sneaky," Merlin said as he gave Hermione a hug.


End file.
